ROBOTS

Section: Games and Demos (6)
Updated: 2 November 1984
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NAME

robots - a game of logic

SYNOPSIS

/usr/games/robots [-s]

DESCRIPTION

Robots is a display-based game which must be played on a CRT terminal from among those supported by vi(1). The object of the game is to avoid the robots: causing them to collide with each other, creating a scrap heap. Robots are also destroyed if they run into a scrap heap.

You are represented on the screen by an I. The robots are represented by `=' and `#' signs. Scrap heaps are represented by `@' signs. After each move, all robots move one step towards you except for the `#' robots which move at twice the speed of normal robots.

The following commands are recognized:

h: Move left.
l: Move right.
j: Move down.
k: Move up.
y: Move up and left.
u: Move up and right.
b: Move down and left.
n: Move down and right.
.
w: Do nothing.
t: Teleport to a safe square if possible (limited in number).
r: Teleport to a random position.
a: Antimatter, all robots one square away from you vanish.
s
W: Sit and watch.
d: Display dots.
m: Print list of `safe' moves.
?: Same as above.
q: Quit game.
^R: Redraw the screen.
^Z: Suspend the game, on systems which support it.
^W: Sit and watch while safe to do so.

A command may be preceeded by a count where relevant. Shift-direction moves as far as possible in that direction. Control-direction moves until adjacent to something.

A record is kept of the personal best scores of each player: one for the current week and one for all time. Scores are printed out at the end of the game. The scores can be printed out with the '-s' parameter.

CONFIGURATION

If you have in your environment the variable ROBOTOPTS then this is examined for a comma separated list of options to be set. Binary options can be preceeded with `no' to reverse the meaning. Valid options are

name=string: Set your name to the given string, this is recorded in the high score table. Your name appears as `string (username)'.
moveheaps: Make the scrap heaps movable. If heaps are movable, then a scrap heap can be pushed in any direction provided there is nothing behind the heap. This may or may not be the default.
showhscores: This option shows the highscore table after every game. The negated version will only print out the highscore only if you appear on it.

NOTE

The first time the `t' command is used on a new level you are guaranteed not to land next to a robot, a count of these `safe' teleports is maintained in the bottom left hand corner. `Antimatters' use up a `safe' teleport.
An asterisk in the first set of scores indicates an out-of-date entry.
The value of each robot in the next round is inversely proportional to the number of scrap heaps created in the previous round. Double speed robots count 1.5 times the value of normal robots.

FILES

/usr/games/lib/robots_tmp       this week's best scores
/usr/games/lib/robots_hof       all time best scores

AUTHOR

Allan Black, Strathclyde University, Glasgow.
Enhancements by Graeme Lunt & Julian Onions, Nottingham University.

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 21:48:12 GMT, February 02, 2023